I hear through Grapeville the lady is to be rejected...Main reason being GoK's refusal to adhere to MLA
ippmedia.com/en/news/stanbicbribery-case-takes-new-turn
April 23, 2018
They are looking for current Kenya Pipeline Company (KPC) chairman John Ngumi, who was in charge of CFC Stanbic Bank’s East Africa investment arm, and Bashir Awale, the Stanbic Bank Tanzania CEO when the bond was floated in 2012.
The bond was handled by Stanbic Tanzania, a subsidiary of Standard Chartered Bank PLC of the United Kingdom, which was fined in 2015 for its role in the scandal.
Awale (pictured) is accused of using the money as an inducement to have state officials favour the two banks when Tanzania floated the international bond.
Tanzania’s attorney general Adelardus Kilangi, whose office is reportedly coordinating the extradition requests, referred all questions on the matter to the Minister for Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Prof Palamagamba Kabudi.
He said only the minister will be issuing progress reports on the extradition requests as it involves two friendly nations.
“I wouldn’t be in a position to say right now what has happened or not happened as I am barely two months in this office,” the AG said, adding: “I prefer that our minister be the spokesperson on matters such as this.”
Kilangi was appointed AG in February to replace George Masaju, who is now a judge of the High Court of Tanzania.
Prevention and Combating of Corruption Bureau (PCCB) director-general Valentino Mlowola said in a telephone interview April 12 that he also is not “authorised” to speak about the matter.
Awale was Stanbic Tanzania chief for seven years before being fired on August 19, 2013. The bank later announced that he had left voluntarily.
He was then deported back to his native Kenya soon after the 2015 general election, the reasons cited then as his illegal stay in Tanzania.
Exactly a year ago, Kenya’s Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission (EACC) said it was helping investigators from Tanzania under a mutual legal agreement to have the extradition requests honoured.
“We have received the MLA and are working closely with the State Law Office in line with the request. A team of investigators from Tanzania and Kenya has been put in place to implement the request,” EACC chief executive officer Halakhe Waqo said at the time.
But the fact that the extraditions have so far been unsuccessful has led to suspicions in Tanzania that Kenya is not keen on fulfilling its obligations under the MLA.
“Investigators’ attempts to summon for questioning other senior Standard Chartered Bank officials in Kenya over the Stanbic scandal have also not been successful,” one source in the office of Tanzania’s director of public prosecutions was quoted as saying.
The source suggested that the two extradition targets may be enjoying high-level political patronage.
The case first came to light after Standard Bank PLC pleaded guilty in a London court in 2015 to charges brought against it by Britain’s Serious Fraud Office, which accused its Tanzanian executives of failing to stop the massive bribery scandal.
According to UK court papers, the $6 million bribe was paid to a company known as Enterprise Growth Market Advisors (EGMA), as an agent for Stanbic Tanzania to win the $600 million government bond deal on behalf of the bank’s UK-based main unit, Standard Chartered Bank.
These arrangements were allegedly made by Awale and Shose Sinare, then the unit’s head of corporate and investment banking.
Sinare, Sioi Solomon - another former senior official of the bank - and former Tanzania Revenue Authority (TRA) director general Harry Kitilya are currently being prosecuted on several charges relating to the bribe linked to the bond.
The seven counts in the charge sheet cover money laundering, forgery, abuse of office, corruption, obtaining advantage and transfer of proceeds.
All three accused have been in remand prison since they were first charged on April 1, 2016. When the case last came up for mention at the Kisutu resident magistrate’s court in Dar es Salaam on April 13, Sinare and Solomon protested over case delays and accused the DPP’s office of taking unnecessarily long to complete investigations.
“We are nearing the third year in custody yet the case is yet to start with the same old song that investigations are incomplete. I am praying that the court intervenes,” said Solomon.
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